Wednesday, May 30, 2012

(AINA) -- The Egyptian presidential election campaigns are coming to an end,
with voting slated for May 23 and 24. Ruthless smear tactics have been used by
the different candidates to disqualify each other, most of these targeting
candidates who advocate a civilian state. An intensive psychological war is
being waged against the Christian voters to disenfranchise them by "spreading
lies around their preferred candidates and using tricks to weaken their vote by
dividing it," says Coptic activist Waguih Jacob.
Because of their considerable numbers, the Copts have been approached by
nearly all candidates for their support, some even promising to make one of the
presidential deputies a Copt. According to the Coptic Church's registry of births and deaths, its
followers are between 15-17 million in a total Egyptian population of 82-85
millions. "They make a big voting block which can tip the scales towards a
particular candidate," says Dr. Emad Gad, vice-director of the Al-Ahram Center
for Political and Strategic Studies and an elected member of parliament. "Their
vote would be particularly effective in a run-off, if no candidate scores more
than 50 percent in the first round."
Coptic organizations conducted several polls which consistently showed that
although Coptic votes are split, they are inclined to vote for Ahmed Shafik,
Mubarak's civil aviation minister and his last prime minister, and Amr Moussa,
former Egyptian foreign minister and former Arab League chief, as well as the
Nasserist candidate Hamdeen Sabahi. These three candidates advocate a civilian
state. Ahmad Shafik is favored with the Copts because of his long-standing
friendship with the late Pope Shenouda, whom Shafik calls his "Big Brother."
Though Shafik and Moussa are from the previous regime, their supporters
believe they have administration experience and would bring stability to the
country.
The Coptic Church issued a statement saying "the Church stands at an equal
distance from all candidates and does not support any candidate. It prays for
Egypt to get a good president who supports the civilian state, the law and equal
citizenship rights."
A poll conducted on May 19 showed 70% of Copts favor Shafik, 16% Amr Moussa
and 13% Hamdeen Sabahi. "In other words, Copts will not vote for any Islamist
presidential candidate," said Dr. Naguib Gabriel, president of the Egyptian
Union of Human Rights Organization, which conducted the poll. The poll also
showed that Copts were not concerned about candidates who were in the former
Mubarak regime.
In an effort to sway the Coptic vote, the semi-official Al-Ahram daily
published on May 18 a story saying a military court has acquitted the three
soldiers charged with killing protesters during the Maspero Massacre of October
9, 2011, which claimed the lives of 26 and wounding 329 Copts. The Court
emphasized in its ruling that the soldiers were in a legitimate case of
self-defense, reported the newspaper. All other media copied this news.
This news was denied by Coptic attorney Nabil Gabriel, one of the lawyers for
the Maspero victims. He said that it was a shame on Al-Ahram newspaper to
publish false news and cause pain to the Copts for political purposes. "The
reason behind publishing this completely false news, in my opinion, is to set
Copts against the military and in the end sway the Copts away from voting for
Shafik, who has a military background." Gabriel said the Maspero case has been
postponed until May 31.
Activist Mark Ebeid believes that the newly founded General Coptic
Organization, with its head Dr. Sherif Doss, who is a member of the election
campaign of Abou el Fetouh, the former deputy counselor of the Muslim
Brotherhood, was planted to recruit Coptic votes for el Fetouh. "Several
disputes took place between him and other Coptic organizations, who suspected
that by using the name of his Coptic organization he was misleading Copts to
vote for Abou el Fetouh," said Ebeid.
Dr. William Wissa, a Coptic writer, said that many Copts believed at first
that Abou el Fetouh was a liberal and were inclined to vote for him, until his
role in creating the "Islamic Jamaa" groups, which carried out terror attacks
against Egyptians in general and Copts in particular and killed over 1000
persons in the 1970s, was exposed. He said the Copts will definitely not give
their votes to any Islamist candidate.
To alienate Copts from the former regime candidates, newspapers articles have
published stories about the Copts who were murdered by the Mubarak regime and
its former members, and SMS messages have been sent to Copts, saying "I hope
that you choose to vote for Dr. Mohamed Morsi [Muslim Brotherhood candidate] but
if you are not convinced then chose another one, but remember the martyrs if you
are thinking of voting for Moussa or Shafik."
In another example, Waguih Jacob said the Muslim Brotherhood attempted to
co-opt the Coptic vote by secretly supporting a completely unknown Coptic
presidential candidate named Nageh Meligy. Mr, Meligy, a post office director,
obtained as required 30 signatures of Members of Parliament, but none were
Coptic members. He refused to disclose their names, so as not to "cause them
embarrassment with the political parties they represent," reported the State
news agency MENA. Meligy advocated a modern civilian state. "The Copts saw
through this trick," said Jacob, "and Meligy disappeared suddenly from the
scene."
By Mary Abdelmassihhttp://www.aina.org/news/20120521100049.htm

About Me

Mr. Morris Sadik is one of Egypt's leading human rights advocates. He is President of the Egyptian Center of Human Rights for National Unity in Cairo. In October 1999, he became Advocates' Counsel for Middle East Affairs with a special focus on Egypt, as well as a director of our International Institute for Law. He is a fearless scholar and a recognized expert in constitutional and human rights law. Working as a team, Morris and Nagi have already scored a major victory this October when they joined forces to defend Adly Shakir, a Christian sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. As a result of Morris's advocacy before the Supreme Court in Egypt and Nagi's networking in Washington on Capitol Hill and among the diplomatic community, Mr. Shakir's death sentence was reversed. But the battle for Mr. Shakir's life is not over. A new trial is set for January. In addition, Nagi and Morris are working on the infamous Al-Kosheh incident, in which 1,200 Christians were tortured. Advocates International Morris Sadek Esq is apresident of national American coptic Assembly - non profit org
Email - morrissdk@gmail.com